How Trayvon's Knockout Game Went Bad

If no one else, WND, the New York Post, and now Fox News have started paying serious attention to an urban pastime known as "the knockout game" or occasionally as "polar bear hunting," a phenomenon that has caused at least seven deaths and countless serious injuries. The "polar bear" refers to the invariably white or at least non-black victim of a hunt by a young black male, usually one of a pack of the same. The hunters tend to prey on those who seem vulnerable. This includes old people, women, children, and, most often, clueless male liberals-- like the Pittsburgh teacher seen in this video -- who have trained themselves not to "profile" young black men even when they approach with malice in their eyes.

White urbanites remain clueless because the mainstream media have chosen not to clue them in. Even when local TV stations cover the incidents, as in the Pittsburgh assault above, they are careful to avoid even hinting at a racial motive.

Said former CBS News correspondent Bernard Goldberg, "The white liberals in the media at places that aren't covering this are saying, 'You know what? We don't want to give any ammo to those white racist conservatives out there (because they equate conservatism with racism anyway), so let's just make believe this isn't happening.' How despicable."

The media's collective failure to acknowledge the pervasiveness of the knockout game enabled them to turn would-be knockout king Trayvon Martin into a martyr and his victim, George Zimmerman, into a racist vigilante.

If he had not had an audience, Trayvon Martin would likely have made it back safely to the townhouse where he was staying in Sanford, Florida, that rainy night in February 2012. The knockout game is played for glory. Martin's audience consisted of one person, the sassy, defiant, plus-sized Rachel Jeantel who talked to Martin by phone throughout the encounter.

The story Jeantel was coached to tell at the trial and in the depositions that preceded it had little contact with reality. In addition to lying about her age and her hospitalization, both of which she was called on, Jeantel told some other obvious mistruths that the defense did not bother countering.

To account for a missing half hour of Martin's time, during which he was likely either smoking marijuana or scoping out the homes in the neighborhood, Jeantel had Martin finding shelter from the rain in "the, um, mail thing." In her initial interview with Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump, however, she said Martin sought relief from the rain "under the shade" of another apartment. In fact, Zimmerman spotted Martin before he approached the community mail shed.

Jeantel also insisted that Martin put his hood up because it started raining. In fact, Martin had the hood up in the store and when he left it. Despite the obvious inconsistencies, the State used Jeantel's corrupted testimony in charging Zimmerman with murder.

There is no reason to believe anything Jeantel said about the confrontation between Martin and Zimmerman save for her spectacularly uncoached recollection of how Martin first described Zimmerman, namely as a "creepy ass cracker."

"He told me the man was looking at him," she added, "so I had to think it might have been a rapist. Might have been a rapist." When defense attorney Don West asked Jeantel whether she thought "creepy-ass cracker" was racist, Jeantel explained that the phrase meant that Trayvon viewed Zimmerman as a "pervert."

The Urban Dictionary defines "ass-cracker" as "one who engages in anal sex." It seems likely that Jeantel meant the homophobic "creepy ass-cracker" and not the racist "creepy-ass cracker." In an interview after the trial with Piers Morgan, Jeantel clarified that since Martin was himself not a homosexual, Zimmerman's actions worried him. "For every boy or every man who's not that kind of way," she said, "seeing a grown man following them, would they be creeped out?"

In sum, Martin saw Zimmerman not as the hulking vigilante the media did but as a vulnerable, possibly gay white man nearly half-a-foot smaller than he. As for Martin, although the media chose not to let the public know, he was an aspiring mixed martial artist who had recently been disciplined both at home and at school for starting fights.

Martin had four minutes to run less than a hundred yards to his townhouse. When he saw Zimmerman exit his truck, he set upon another strategy. There is no reason to believe that Jeantel tried to discourage him. In fact, she could never quite remember how it was that the final confrontation went down. Although the State chose to believe Jeantel, on this point, on all points, Zimmerman's testimony was much more credible.

"As I headed back to my vehicle the suspect emerged from the darkness and said, 'You got a problem?'" wrote Zimmerman on the night of the shooting. When Zimmerman answered "No," the suspect said, "You do now," and sucker punched him in the face. What Martin did not suspect is that this creepy ass cracker was armed. It cost him his life.

By the time of this incident, the knockout game was a well established phenomenon among young black males, especially troubled ones like Martin, the product of a broken home and a broken culture. Martin's assault on Zimmerman fit an obvious pattern.

The State of Florida, Attorney General Holder, President Barack Obama, and the entirety of the mainstream media chose not to see that pattern. "It was related to me that they just wanted an arrest," Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee told CNN after the trial. "They didn't care if it was dismissed later." Lee did not specify who the "they" was, but they could have included all the culprits named above and the mobs they inspired.

As to Zimmerman, his finances, his freedom, his mental health, and his marriage were all just collateral damage in the acquiescence to mob justice. Now, his every misstep makes national news, while the injuries and even deaths of new knockout victims go unreported. For all that, the mob remains unappeased.

If no one else, WND, the New York Post, and now Fox News have started paying serious attention to an urban pastime known as "the knockout game" or occasionally as "polar bear hunting," a phenomenon that has caused at least seven deaths and countless serious injuries.

The "polar bear" refers to the invariably white or at least non-black victim of a hunt by a young black male, usually one of a pack of the same. The hunters tend to prey on those who seem vulnerable. This includes old people, women, children, and, most often, clueless male liberals-- like the Pittsburgh teacher seen in this video -- who have trained themselves not to "profile" young black men even when they approach with malice in their eyes.

White urbanites remain clueless because the mainstream media have chosen not to clue them in. Even when local TV stations cover the incidents, as in the Pittsburgh assault above, they are careful to avoid even hinting at a racial motive.

Said former CBS News correspondent Bernard Goldberg, "The white liberals in the media at places that aren't covering this are saying, 'You know what? We don't want to give any ammo to those white racist conservatives out there (because they equate conservatism with racism anyway), so let's just make believe this isn't happening.' How despicable."

The media's collective failure to acknowledge the pervasiveness of the knockout game enabled them to turn would-be knockout king Trayvon Martin into a martyr and his victim, George Zimmerman, into a racist vigilante.

If he had not had an audience, Trayvon Martin would likely have made it back safely to the townhouse where he was staying in Sanford, Florida, that rainy night in February 2012. The knockout game is played for glory. Martin's audience consisted of one person, the sassy, defiant, plus-sized Rachel Jeantel who talked to Martin by phone throughout the encounter.

The story Jeantel was coached to tell at the trial and in the depositions that preceded it had little contact with reality. In addition to lying about her age and her hospitalization, both of which she was called on, Jeantel told some other obvious mistruths that the defense did not bother countering.

To account for a missing half hour of Martin's time, during which he was likely either smoking marijuana or scoping out the homes in the neighborhood, Jeantel had Martin finding shelter from the rain in "the, um, mail thing." In her initial interview with Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump, however, she said Martin sought relief from the rain "under the shade" of another apartment. In fact, Zimmerman spotted Martin before he approached the community mail shed.

Jeantel also insisted that Martin put his hood up because it started raining. In fact, Martin had the hood up in the store and when he left it. Despite the obvious inconsistencies, the State used Jeantel's corrupted testimony in charging Zimmerman with murder.

There is no reason to believe anything Jeantel said about the confrontation between Martin and Zimmerman save for her spectacularly uncoached recollection of how Martin first described Zimmerman, namely as a "creepy ass cracker."

"He told me the man was looking at him," she added, "so I had to think it might have been a rapist. Might have been a rapist." When defense attorney Don West asked Jeantel whether she thought "creepy-ass cracker" was racist, Jeantel explained that the phrase meant that Trayvon viewed Zimmerman as a "pervert."

The Urban Dictionary defines "ass-cracker" as "one who engages in anal sex." It seems likely that Jeantel meant the homophobic "creepy ass-cracker" and not the racist "creepy-ass cracker." In an interview after the trial with Piers Morgan, Jeantel clarified that since Martin was himself not a homosexual, Zimmerman's actions worried him. "For every boy or every man who's not that kind of way," she said, "seeing a grown man following them, would they be creeped out?"

In sum, Martin saw Zimmerman not as the hulking vigilante the media did but as a vulnerable, possibly gay white man nearly half-a-foot smaller than he. As for Martin, although the media chose not to let the public know, he was an aspiring mixed martial artist who had recently been disciplined both at home and at school for starting fights.

Martin had four minutes to run less than a hundred yards to his townhouse. When he saw Zimmerman exit his truck, he set upon another strategy. There is no reason to believe that Jeantel tried to discourage him. In fact, she could never quite remember how it was that the final confrontation went down. Although the State chose to believe Jeantel, on this point, on all points, Zimmerman's testimony was much more credible.

"As I headed back to my vehicle the suspect emerged from the darkness and said, 'You got a problem?'" wrote Zimmerman on the night of the shooting. When Zimmerman answered "No," the suspect said, "You do now," and sucker punched him in the face. What Martin did not suspect is that this creepy ass cracker was armed. It cost him his life.

By the time of this incident, the knockout game was a well established phenomenon among young black males, especially troubled ones like Martin, the product of a broken home and a broken culture. Martin's assault on Zimmerman fit an obvious pattern.

The State of Florida, Attorney General Holder, President Barack Obama, and the entirety of the mainstream media chose not to see that pattern. "It was related to me that they just wanted an arrest," Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee told CNN after the trial. "They didn't care if it was dismissed later." Lee did not specify who the "they" was, but they could have included all the culprits named above and the mobs they inspired.

As to Zimmerman, his finances, his freedom, his mental health, and his marriage were all just collateral damage in the acquiescence to mob justice. Now, his every misstep makes national news, while the injuries and even deaths of new knockout victims go unreported. For all that, the mob remains unappeased.